All The World Is Saying

Lorenz Hart, born May 2, should have had a great time, being the most celebrated lyricist on Broadway for much of his too-short adult life. But he had demons, made worse (caused?) by his drinking.

His lyrics have a spirit--aided immensely by Richard Rodgers' music--rarely heard elsewhere. At the same time, his love songs can be achingly beautiful, and are often full of sadness. (It's been noted he writes about love like it's some sort of disease.)

It's true he often wrote too fast. I suppose if he didn't, he wouldn't have written at all, since he could be hard to corral.

The team of Rodgers and Hart had almost given up when they were asked to contribute some numbers to The Garrick Gaieties. The song from the show that "made" Rodgers and Hart was "Manhattan," and while the tune is excellent, it's the words that make the difference:



I don't know if anyone's ever written a better song than "Isn't It Romantic?" Everyone knows the published lyric, but few remember all the words Hart wrote when it was introduced in Love Me Tonight. (This sequence is pretty amazing for 1932. In fact, it's amazing in general):



From the same movie, look how they throw away the very clever (and very different from the standard version) "Lover," which would go on to be a classic. And then it goes right into Chevalier's signature, "Mimi":



In the latter half of the 30s, the team returned to New York, where they had a string of hit shows up until Hart's premature death.

One of their most famous songs, "The Lady Is A Tramp," from Babes In Arms, was so delightful Hart had to write encore choruses. Pardon the amateur video, but this is the only version I could find with all the words:



This is already too long, but one more. Rodgers started working with Hammerstein when Hart became too unreliable. But even after Oklahoma!, Rodgers and Hart revived an old hit, A Connecticut Yankee, and added some new songs, including the showstopper "To Keep My Love Alive." It was Hart's last song: